"Pray ... and fall forward rather than backwards," the Rev. Nels Gjengdahl says of his strategy on the Crashed Ice Course. At left is his fellow novice skater/skate enthusiast the Rev. John Floeder. (Pioneer Press: John Brewer)

Aidan Coleman, left, and his dad, Mayor Chris Coleman, talk strategy before hitting the Red Bull Crashed Ice course Wednesday. Both made several runs up and down a sloped dogleg without wiping out. (Pioneer Press: John Brewer)

Rev. Nels Gjengdahl, left, joined by his best friend, Rev. John Floeder, sprouts some homemade dental work after successfully skating a portion of the Red Bull Crashed Ice race course in St. Paul on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014. The two joined St. Paul mayor Chris Coleman and a number of other local luminaries to skate down the course in advance of the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship 2014, which runs through Saturday at the course near the Cathedral of St. Paul. Gjengdahl, 33, grew up in North St. Paul and teaches religion to high school students at St. Thomas Academy. His best friend and hockey teammate, the Rev. John Floeder, 32, is a moral theology instructor at the St. Paul Seminary. (Pioneer Press: John Doman)

A year ago, the Rev. Nels Gjengdahl ignored his mother’s advice and decided to attempt about a third of the hairpin Red Bull Crashed Ice course on St. Paul’s Cathedral Hill.

It was one of his first times on ice, but he still managed to complete several runs alongside St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, a city council member and a handful of newscasters.

“Last year was probably my third time on skates, ever,” said Gjengdahl, 33, who grew up in North St. Paul and teaches religion to high school students at St. Thomas Academy. “I went down the course and survived. I decided that because I had all this hockey gear, I might as well play hockey. I try to about twice a week.”

For his encore this year, he took along his best friend and hockey teammate, the Rev. John Floeder, 32, a moral theology instructor at the St. Paul Seminary who happens to be almost as inexperienced on skates.

The two men were ordained together in 2007 at the Cathedral of St. Paul (“I was looking for something to do on the weekends, and I figured I’d become a priest,” quips Gjengdahl) and they play pick-up games around the metro through the Just My Speed hockey association.

The pair joined the mayor again on Wednesday for another exhibition run. Two hundred athletes, half of them from the United States, will brave the same 1410-foot course multiple times during elimination rounds that begin at 2 p.m. Thursday and climax with the crowning of a champion late Saturday night.

“I’m the baby of seven, and my three brothers all played hockey,” said Floeder, 32, who grew up near Como Park. “By the time I got around, my parents thought it was too expensive, so they forbid me from playing.”

Floeder said he’s nevertheless smitten with the sport, and the two friends have embarked on an occasional tour of hockey arenas around the country. They’ve been to 17 arenas so far, constituting about half of the NHL.

And for the curious — no, they don’t wear frocks, vestments or clerical collars on the ice. “That’d be impractical,” Floeder said.

The pair fessed up before God before they skated. “I’m going to confession tomorrow before I go to the Crashed Ice course, to make sure my soul is clean,” said Floeder on Tuesday. “I’ll go down as much of the course as they’ll let me.”

As for Gjengdahl’s mother? “She’s still trying to convince me out of it,” said Gjengdahl on Tuesday. “She said she’d visit me in the hospital.”

Frederick Melo was once sued by a reader for $2 million but kept on writing. He came to the Pioneer Press in 2005 and brings a testy East Coast attitude to St. Paul beat reporting. He spent nearly six years covering crime in the Dakota County courts before switching focus to the St. Paul mayor's office, city council, and all things neighborhood-related, from the city's churches to its parks and light rail. A resident of Hamline-Midway, he is married to a Frogtown woman. He Tweets with manic intensity at @FrederickMelo.

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